Consumer Reports Warns Ending Free Windows 10 Support Is A National Security Threat
While AMD is keeping its nine-year-old socket AM4 kicking with yet another Ryzen 5000 series processor launch, Microsoft is getting ready to send its decade-old operating system, Windows 10, into retirement. It's not a total retirement, but free support for Windows 10 comes to an end next month, and Consumer Reports sees this as a major security risk.
In an open letter sent to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, the consumer advocacy group urges Nadella to reconsider ending free support in October, saying that doing so will leave millions of operational devices unprotected, posing a national security threat.
"This decision will strand millions of consumers who have computers
that are incompatible with Windows 11, and force them to pay $30 for a one-year extension of
support, spend hundreds on a new Windows 11-capable computer, or do nothing and see the
security and functionality of their computer degrade over time. This latter option is particularly
problematic as it risks harming the consumer as well as co-opting the machine to perpetuate
attacks against other entities, risking national security," Consumer Reports states.
According to the consumer advocacy group, nearly half (46%) of all Windows PCs are running Windows 10, and that a "significant percentage" of those systems do not have the option of upgrading to Windows 11, presumably because of the OS's Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 and 64-bit processor requirements.
That 46% figure is derived from StatCounter's data, which currently indicates that Windows 10 accounts for 45.65% of all Windows PCs. Windows 7 accounts for 3.54%, Windows 8 for 1.13%, and Windows XP and Windows 8.1 combine for less than 1%.
Consumer Reports is also taking issue with Microsoft's promotions to obtain free support instead of paying the $30 fee.
"Microsoft has touted a free support option for consumers, but to obtain that support consumers must choose to use Microsoft products such as Bing search or Xbox gaming to earn the 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points necessary to access free support. Tying free support to
unrelated Microsoft products forces consumers to jump through unnecessary hoops just so
Microsoft can eke out a bit of market share over competitors," the letter states (PDF).
The bottom line is that Consumer Reports is pleading with Microsoft to "do the right thing and continue supporting Windows 10" for free. That said, there is a way to extend Windows 10 support for free for an additional year, which we previous outlined. The option to enroll ran into an initial glitch, but was recently fixed.
